US Withdraws from Paris Climate Change Pact, Another Failure by Greens

But the official says there may be "caveats in the language" that Trump uses to announce the withdrawal - leaving open the possibility that the decision isn't final.

A senior European Union official said Wednesday, May 31, the European Union and China will reaffirm their commitment to the Paris climate change accord this week, regardless of whether President Donald Trump pulls out of the pact.

Trump will honor a campaign pledge to pull out of the 195-nation Paris Agreement, a source briefed on the decision told Reuters on Tuesday.

Trump tweeted on Wednesday that he "will be announcing my decision on the Paris Accord over the next few days".

He had promised during his presidential campaign to pull the United States out of the deal.

The mayor's disclosure came as he and other political leaders urged Trump to remain in the 2015 Paris accord, in which almost 200 countries pledged specific policies to reduce carbon emissions linked to global warming.

Economists also warn that climate change could inflict a devastating impact on the global economy.

"Once China's development reaches a certain level, it has to move to a sustainable model, that means we have to push green development", he said.

"The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make USA manufacturing non-competitive", he tweeted.

Withdrawing would leave the USA as one of just three countries outside the agreement, with the other two being Syria and Nicaragua.

The decision would be a significant foreign policy break with almost every other nation on earth and a major reversal of the Obama administration's efforts on climate change. But it will take a while: Under the terms of the agreement, he wouldn't actually be able to withdraw until November 2020.

US Withdraws from Paris Climate Change Pact, Another Failure by Greens

Trump plans to announce the decision this week and is working with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt to determine how the US will remove itself from the accord, which could take three years.

WASHINGTON ― House Republicans who vowed months ago to combat climate change have found themselves at odds with the most prominent member of their party: President Donald Trump. A study a year ago in the journal Nature Climate Change said America will probably only reach four-fifths of that goal. And it could trigger further efforts to erode the landmark climate accord. CBS News also reported that Trump is telling allies about his decision.

Germany's Angela Merkel, who in the past has been dubbed the "climate chancellor" for her efforts to fight global warming, said her country would "continue to fulfil our obligations under the Paris climate agreement as part of the European framework".

Meanwhile, Trump has declared that abandoning the Paris climate agreement would be a victory for the American economy.

United Nations rules for the 2015 pact, which seeks to shift the world economy from fossil fuels this century, say Washington would formally have to wait until November 2020 to withdraw.

Carbon dioxide stays in the air for 100 years, and about one-fifth of what has accumulated in the atmosphere came from the US, more than any other country. The pact became one of President Barack Obama's signature achievements.

But Trump has changed his mind in the past on major issues, and was still speaking to opponents of withdrawal even as his team prepared an announcement.

After taking office, however, Trump faced pressure to stay in the deal from investors, global powers and business leaders, including some in the coal industry. "Withdrawing from the agreement would cause us to lose this influence".

Syria and Nicaragua have already rejected the climate accord.

Bodansky noted, however, that Washington did not try to obstruct other nations' work on the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which obliged rich nations to cut emissions, after President George W. Bush angered US allies by deciding in 2001 not to take part.

"A USA withdrawal would remove the world's second-largest emitter and almost 18 percent of the globe's present day emissions from the agreement, presenting a severe challenge to its structure and raising questions about whether it will weaken the commitments of other nations", wrote Washington Post environment reporter Chris Mooney.